Pete Huttlinger - The Santa Rita Connection BIO
“In Pete Huttlinger’s hands, a fingerpicked flat-top
becomes a mini-orchestra. He juggles it all: a tune’s melody,
harmony, and bass lines—even percussion. His playing is fun, scary,
and always inspiring.” ~ Guitar Player
After a
day of demanding music classes at Berklee College, Peter Huttlinger
would grab a friend, rush to the Harvard Square subway station and spend
the afternoon there playing music for tips. The two always came back
with their pockets filled. For Huttlinger, this routine symbolized what
has become his abiding outlook toward music: Perfect your art, but
play to the crowd.
Since his days of subway busking, Huttlinger has developed into a world-renowned
guitarist. Even as a must-have sideman, he occupied some pretty choice
real estate, including the Hollywood Bowl and London’s Royal Albert
Hall with John Denver, Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas with George
Burns and stadiums around the world with numerous other pop and country
superstars.
He has been a featured artist with the San Diego and Houston symphonies
and is a favorite guest artist of the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. In
2000 Huttlinger won the title of National Fingerstyle Champion at the
prestigious Walnut Valley Festival.
In the past five years, Huttlinger has stepped into the solo spotlight.
He has just released his latest CD, The Santa Rita Connection.
This newest collection is hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed Naked Pop CD. Ten of the 13 tracks on The Santa Rita Connection are original compositions. “I’ve been writing tunes since
I was 14 years old,” says Huttlinger. Naked Pop was a
way to introduce my playing to people using tunes that they were familiar
and comfortable with, thus setting the stage for a CD of my own tunes.” The Santa Rita Connection does however include some classic
covers, such as the blinding version of “I Got Rhythm,”
Huttlinger’s mind-boggling arrangement of Steve Wonder’s
“Superstition,” and a beautiful adaptation of the timeless
“Sunny.”
Huttlinger refers
to The Santa Rita Connection as “my best collection of
fingerstyle performances ever.” He explains, “My playing
has matured to a point where I feel really comfortable. I’m at
a place where my technical chops and writing skills are all coming together.”
Born in Washington, D.C., Huttlinger descended from two lines of prominent
journalists. His grandfather on his mother’s side, Fred Walker,
was an editor of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, reporting
directly to its owner and publisher, William Randolph Hearst. Huttlinger’s
father, Joseph, was a White House correspondent and a publisher of his
own newsletter on the oil industry. "My dad took my mom to the
White House on their first date," Huttlinger says, "and while
they were walking around, President Truman came out and said, ‘Hi,
Joe.’ That got Mom’s attention.”
When Huttlinger’s father died in 1964, his mother moved with
her six children to northern California. "My mom played piano all
the time—almost every evening," Huttlinger recalls. "It
was real comforting to hang out and listen. She wasn’t trained,
but she had a real melodic sense about her."
By the age of 12, Huttlinger had begun music lessons and by 14 he had
settled on the guitar. Soon after he graduated from high school, a relative
left him a small inheritance. He decided to use this windfall to study
at Berklee College of Music, the Boston-based academic home of such
musical luminaries as Quincy Jones, Kevin Eubanks, Melissa Ethridge,
Brandford Marsalis, Bruce Cockburn and Paula Cole. It was there that
Huttlinger found he had a knack for music theory and harmony. "All
that made sense to me," he says.
Huttlinger graduated cum laude from Berklee in 1984 and moved to Nashville.
During the eighteen years since that move, Huttlinger has established
himself as a top-notch session player, composer, arranger, bandleader,
songwriter and sideman.
During the early ‘90’s, John Denver’s tour manager
and producer Kris O’Connor heard Huttlinger on another project
and was so impressed that he recommended him for Denver’s band.
Huttlinger toured, recorded and performed on television with Denver
from 1994 until the singer’s death in 1997.
Huttlinger has performed on numerous Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated
projects. He has also been nominated for an Emmy for music he both composed
and performed for a PBS special. His performances have been used in
several national TV series, including the PBS Nature special
"Let This Be A Voice." He created the theme song for ESPN’s Flyfishing America, a program on which he has made guest appearances.
Competing at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, Huttlinger
matched licks with 37 of the nimblest guitarists in the world to win
the 2000 National Fingerpick Guitar Championship. He has since been
featured on the cover of Fingerstyle Guitar twice, and has
been profiled in Guitar Player, Acoustic Guitar, Vintage Guitar and Guitar World Acoustic. He has created two series of instructional
DVDs that have become Homespun Tapes top sellers. One series is his
much in demand Learn To Play The Songs of John Denver
(Vol. I, II & III). The other series includes instructionals of
his own arrangements and practice techniques.
Peers consider Huttlinger one of today’s finest fingerstyle guitarists. Dirty Linen magazine labeled him "….a powerhouse
guitarist," and Guitar Player magazine referred to his
playing as "…an amazing display of all-around fingerstyle
mastery. Scary stuff.”
Huttlinger lives in Nashville and plays everywhere.
